Dual vs. Dogs wraps up grapplers' regular season

While they didn't have a great week as a team, the Columbia Falls wrestling squad had some solid individual performances.

One of the top matches came from Justin Whitman at 119 against Ty Stedman of Frenchtown. Whitman beat Stedman, a two-time state champion, 6-5, on Saturday.

"That was a big win for Justin," coach Jessie Schaeffer said. "It was a great boost to his confidence."

After a long road tour, the Cats finally had a home meet against Ronan last week. Seth McCall, 98, Sal Baccaro, 112 and Adam Richardson 125 all had wins for the team.

But the Cats had too many other wrestlers giving up pins to win the dual. On the road, the Cats wrestled in the Frenchtown quad, losing to Corvallis and Frenchtown.

Kelly Houle, who has had a stellar season, continued his winning ways, pinning Austin Atkins of Corvallis and Brennan Fisher of Frenchtown. Fisher is the No. 2 wrestler in the state. Joe Gross had two pins at 160, taking down Corvallis's Duston Stephens and Frenchtown's Ken Beckerdite.

Billy Gross also had a solid Saturday with two wins.

The Cats travel to Libby Thursday (today) and then wrap up their regular season with a wrestling jamboree this Saturday, which will feature a host of JV matches and a few varsity wrestlers looking to get more time in before the divisional tourney.

Saturday the Cats will wrap up their regular season against Whitefish with wrestling starting at 5 p.m.